Roman and Williams is a design studio in New York City. It was founded in 2002 by Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch.[1][2]
History
Ben Stiller hired the couple to design his Los Angeles home after working with them on the set of the film Duplex (2003),[3] after which they decided to found their own design studio.[4]
Named for the founders’ maternal grandfathers, the firm opened its first office on the lot of Paramount Pictures. In 2004, it relocated to New York and established its office on Lafayette Street[5] before moving to Canal Street in 2023.
Standefer and Alesch use their own homes in Manhattan and Montauk as design laboratories for future projects.[10]The New York Times described their East Fourth Street apartment "an appealing hybrid, as if an apartment from the Apthorp had been reassembled by the furniture designers Pierre Chareau or Jean Prouve."[11]
In 2011, Standefer and Alesch, were recognized in Fast Company's list of "America's 50 Most Influential Designers."[12] In 2014, they received the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s National Design Award for Interior Design.[13] They won The Wall Street Journal's 2017 Innovators Award in the Design category,[14] and the 2018 "Visionaries Award" from the Sir John Soane's Museum Foundation[15] as well as an award for "Architecture" by Fashion Group International.[16] The studio has been included in lists of the top design firms by Architectural Digest and Elle Decor.[17][18]
In 2016, Roman and Williams was commissioned to redesign the British Galleries at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, which opened in March 2020.[21] This commission was the firm's first project in a museum. They were later commissioned to design an exhibition space for a special section of Frieze Masters 2023.[22]
Alesch, Stephen; Standefer, Robin; Brisick, Jamie; Stiller, Ben (16 October 2012). Roman and Williams Buildings & Interiors: Things We Made. Rizzoli. ISBN978-0-8478-3883-7.
Hagberg, Eva (29 September 2009). Dark Nostalgia. The Monacelli Press. ISBN978-1-5809-3232-5.